In the campaign I am currently running, there is a mysterious inventor selling firearms to pirates. These firearms are more advanced than what existed in the world before this point, which would be wheelocks and early flintlocks. My question is what type of gun should I base the ones the inventor is selling off of. I want a type of gun that doesn't take long to reload, but the guns I find online are either too early (like the ones where it takes a minute to reload) or too modern (like guns from the 20th century). My world is rather advanced, but firearms from the 1900s or further are too complex. What types of guns could work for my world?
Look at early to mid Old West weapons. Cap-and-ball percussion revolvers, trapdoor rifles, and other weapons that use metallic cartridges but do not otherwise have any sort of self-loading action. The invention of the metallic cartridge, by itself, was an enormous leap forward in firearms technology, especially for rifles. Some handguns resisted switching to metallic cartridges for a while - very good percussion revolvers didn't need to - but nevertheless, that would be the Disruptive Technological Edge you're looking for. Especially on the sea, where waxed paper is nowhere near as sturdy as metallic cartridges.
In the campaign I am currently running, there is a mysterious inventor selling firearms to pirates. These firearms are more advanced than what existed in the world before this point, which would be wheelocks and early flintlocks. My question is what type of gun should I base the ones the inventor is selling off of. I want a type of gun that doesn't take long to reload, but the guns I find online are either too early (like the ones where it takes a minute to reload) or too modern (like guns from the 20th century). My world is rather advanced, but firearms from the 1900s or further are too complex. What types of guns could work for my world?
Here is a link for the evolution of handguns:
https://coolinfographics.com/blog/2012/5/24/the-evolution-of-the-handgun.html
Look at early to mid Old West weapons. Cap-and-ball percussion revolvers, trapdoor rifles, and other weapons that use metallic cartridges but do not otherwise have any sort of self-loading action. The invention of the metallic cartridge, by itself, was an enormous leap forward in firearms technology, especially for rifles. Some handguns resisted switching to metallic cartridges for a while - very good percussion revolvers didn't need to - but nevertheless, that would be the Disruptive Technological Edge you're looking for. Especially on the sea, where waxed paper is nowhere near as sturdy as metallic cartridges.
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Thanks for all the help! I'll look into the firearms you suggested.